On the Golden Globes, the comic put her roastmaster expertise to good use—if you happen to listened carefully.
In an interview she gave previous to internet hosting final evening’s Golden Globes ceremony, the comic Nikki Glaser defined how she ready for the job. She put collectively two writers’ rooms and did greater than 90 check runs. She debated the meanness of punchlines. She fought together with her boyfriend (who can be her producer) over whether or not the actor Jesse Eisenberg or the podcast “Name Her Daddy” can be higher acknowledged by the celebrities within the room.
Her efforts paid off. Glaser’s 10 minutes on stage to begin the night ran easily, clearing the exceptionally low bar set by final yr’s emcee, Jo Koy. She instantly—and often—made herself the butt of the joke, placing the viewers relaxed. The attendees obtained her warmly as she made mild of how nobody watches Peacock, how film stars now dominate tv, and the way poorly Joker: Folie à Deux fared with critics. These cracks had been about as thrilling because the enjoyable info about presenters that popped up on chyrons as they walked on stage, which is to say: They had been completely good, however nowhere close to groundbreaking.
And but, Glaser’s good-natured supply turned out to be the best automobile for some surprising chunk as nicely—however provided that you listened rigorously. In between her many, many self-effacing barbs, Glaser slid in some stingers in regards to the company seated earlier than her. Early in her set, she focused their egos and political endorsements. “You’re all so well-known, so proficient, so highly effective, I imply, you possibly can actually do something,” she gushed. “I imply, besides inform the nation who to vote for.” Later, she used their camera-readiness towards themselves. “I look out and I see among the hardest working actors in present enterprise, and by that I imply your servers,” she stated, because the attendees began applauding for the waitstaff. It was the precise response Glaser appeared to have wished. “Sure, give it up,” she stated, smiling. “They’ll be bringing you your cocktails to drink and your meals that you simply’ll take a look at.” The comic’s rapid-fire supply stored the viewers from pausing to think about what precisely they had been clapping for, and her cheerful demeanor masked her humor’s acidity.
Glaser has a knack for jovially delivering harsh truths, as if she’s sharing a bit innocent gossip. It’s why her roast of Tom Brady—a efficiency that earned the appreciation of fellow comics and catapulted her into the higher echelon of right this moment’s roastmasters—labored so nicely; she killed him with kindness, beaming her approach by means of each insult about his private life, his profession, and his legacy. She did a muted model of the identical strategy on the Globes, singling folks out with lighter, however no much less backhanded one-liners that made them smile anyway. Simply watch how she made Benny Blanco, Selena Gomez’s fiancé, snicker after saying he was solely current “due to the genie who granted him that want.” She grinned at Gomez and Blanco earlier than including a fast “I really like you” to melt the blow. She additionally slipped in a comment about ladies thought of previous their Hollywood primes (“It seems if you happen to’re a lady over 50 in a lead position, they name it a comeback; if you happen to’re a man over 50 in a lead position, congratulations, you’re about to play Sydney Sweeney’s boyfriend”) in the midst of an prolonged gag during which she handled the night’s midway level as if it had been halftime at a sporting occasion. (The bit even got here full with a listing of probably the most thanked folks through the evening’s acceptance speeches, together with Mario Lopez however not, Glaser famous, God. “No shock on this godless city,” she quipped.)
Whereas growing her personal routine, Glaser stated that she rewatched clips of previous Golden Globes hosts she admired, together with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. That have might have knowledgeable one in every of her monologue’s final jokes, which was considerably sharper than her others: “I predict 5 years from now, whenever you’re watching previous clips of this present on YouTube, you’ll see somebody in one of many crowd pictures and also you’ll go, ‘Oh my God, that was earlier than they caught that man!’” she stated. “Like, we could possibly be making historical past tonight, and like, we don’t even know with who!” Because the viewers laughed heartily at her sorority-girlish pleasure, Glaser landed her punchline. “He is aware of, you recognize. Or she, it could possibly be a lady. I believe one hundred pc of the time it’s a person, however it could possibly be a lady. It received’t be. It by no means is.” The informal supply, the tossed-off tone—Glaser made these strains, about how scandal-prone Hollywood might be, sound like she simply considered them, like she’s simply making random observations. She’s simply saying.
However after all, nothing Glaser did on the Globes was offhand. She studied her predecessors, examined her materials, and even created bits—together with singing a music involving a foolish pun on Conclave and Depraved—that supplied traditional awards-show humor. Most of all, she calibrated her meanness, bringing an understated type of savagery because the evening’s emcee. Glaser promised she wouldn’t roast the folks within the room, and it’s true: On that entrance, she was harmless. However that didn’t imply she was completely innocuous.
